Fergie's Tech Blog

Feds Pushing States on Gun Database

John Gramlich writes on Stateline.org:

Following the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history at Virginia Tech on April 16, Congress and the Bush administration are mounting a campaign to get states to participate in a federal program designed to keep the mentally ill from buying firearms.

Only 22 states, including Virginia, now provide records of those with disqualifying mental health histories to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS), an FBI database that lets gun dealers across the country identify potentially dangerous buyers before selling them weapons.

The database, set up by Congress as part of the 1993 Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act, essentially serves as a registry of those prohibited from buying guns for reasons ranging from illegal residence in the United States to dishonorable discharge from the armed services. In the case of the mentally ill, the law bans sales to those “who have been adjudicated as a mental defective or have been committed to a mental institution.”

posted by Fergie @ 7/11/2007 05:34:00 PM